An Old Fashioned Park Criminal Prosecution With Some Twists

On September 26, 2013, the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado announced that he had filed a six count criminal Information against Eric and Ryan Jensen. The government alleges that the defendants violated the FDC Act by introducing adulterated cantaloupes into interstate commerce. The government also alleges that the cantaloupes bore Listeria monocytogenes and 33 people died. It is quite curious (we are being charitable here) that the government’s press release alleges that 147 people were hospitalized as a result of sales of the cantaloupes, but those allegations appear nowhere in the criminal Information!

The prosecution is a misdemeanor case, and does not allege any criminal “intent” on the part of the defendants. There is no public indication that the defendants are prepared to plead guilty and/or cooperate with the government against others. This fact pattern strongly suggests that this case is an old style Park criminal prosecution where the government files criminal charges under the FDC Act against company officials, without allegations that the defendants intended to violate the law and without a plea bargain that a misdemeanor prosecution is a settlement of more serious felony charges. Our speculation is that a thorough government investigation here failed to turn up evidence that the defendants violated the FDC Act “with the intent to defraud or mislead,” which would be necessary to commence felony charges under the FDC Act. In fact, the government used a grand jury to investigate this case, even though it can file a criminal Information involving misdemeanor charges without using a grand jury.

The second interesting twist in this case is that arrest warrants were issued for the defendants. Arresting defendants charged only with misdemeanors was certainly not the norm with regard to old style Park prosecutions. Typically, the defendants were simply notified of the charges and came to court voluntarily to enter their guilty or not guilty pleas.